What Does Windows 8 really mean ?

I think it means the death of the PC and more, and I will go on to explain why.

Now some people will say 'Well the PC was dying anyway.'

This is true PC sales are down people are replacing their desktops with
Laptops. Computing is becoming more mobile. I myself have recently replaced
my desktop with a Windows 7 Laptop it loads to the Logon screen in a second.

After I type in my password it loads and connects to the wifi in 2 seconds..
This is crazy... its like owning an apple machine...

It has 8 GB of ram and 1 Terabyte Hard Drive that I hardly know what to do with.

It has a HD Screen and Webcam all which made me feel I was buying cutting edge technology
but I was wrong to buy it, I have basically wasted my money.

Computing is about to change.

All of us need to get our head round that.

The way we think about what a PC is what a Laptop is , is going to change.

The way we think about what an application is, is going to change.

Now Computers and change has always pretty much been the norm,

Thank God I am no longer using a Windows 95 PC that continually crashes when I sneeze on it.

Win7 is so stable you could run a Nuclear Power Plant from it.

But it is not so radically different I still have my menu, my toolbar, my scrollbars, my minimise and maximise boxes.

Its different but still there are some familiar concepts and features.

Windows 8 will change that there will be no Menus, no toolbars with little icons on them, no scrollbars either, no maximise or minimise buttons just a round black close application button.

Application design will be different, it has to be there are or should be no menus, Navigation is to be
content driven, you will Navigate through pictures, links or the data itself.

Application designers will have to take into account a range of devices that most of them hadn't considered before.

Your new Windows 8 app will be expected to perform equally well on a Desktop PC device (which will be so different that we will no longer call it a PC) a Laptop device (which will be radically different too) a Tablet device and a smartphone device.

All of these devices will be touchscreen driven with a rollup Keyboard there will be no mouse, pinching, tapping, touching, swiping will be all you need.

In the beginning the new PC devices will come with Keyboards and mice but people will soon realise you don't actually need them.

Is this the death of the Keyboard and mouse ?

Yes I truly think it is, not tomorrow or even next year but soon enough to make you think.

Your Home PC will be a large Screen, your laptop just a large Tablet and your Tablet and smartphone will all be running the same OS as your Home Screen and laptop Screen.

My new Windows 7 dream machine is beginning to look a bit antiquated.

Software developers will need to get their heads round the fact that their app needs to run on not just a PC but a range of devices with a range of screen sizes, accuracy of design and attention to detail at the single pixel level will be required.

Applications will become content driven, what does that mean ?

It means a sea change in the way you think about designing an application, data will be shared hopefully seamlessly, through the cloud (in its variuos guises), facebook, twitter, email etc.
The end user will be guided through the program by pictures, hyperlinks, small icons that will appear from nowhere with a swipe on the screen.

Now I design Engineering Software, how do I port my programs to this new way of thinking..?
I'm building databases of information usually, presenting the data in the usual way.

In boxes.

I will have to rethink all of this in a way, data in this coming change needs to be copied, ported, translated, shared.

The other type of application I write is one that does some usfeul but complicated calculations which may take an Engineer an hour or so to do but with my application its all done in a few minutes, the results can be stored in a file on disk or printed.

How do I do that with a program that has to be content driven, a serious rethink will be required on my part.

I'm even seriously reconsidering how useful satellite TV will be in the future.

Replies To: What Does Windows 8 really mean ?

Re: What Does Windows 8 really mean ?

I am not sure if you are serious or just using this as a chance to preach your views but I will bite.

First of all, they have been saying the desktop PC is dead for a long time. Guess what, many of us still have them. Some of the reasons why I still keep a desktop PC around...

1) My work provides them
2) Desktops are still much more powerful than any mobiles. Even a laptop can't reach the kind of power I can get out of a nice desktop.
3) People like big screens so unless your mobile is going to include a 22 inch or you are going to keep a screen on a desk and have your mobile wirelessly hook into it, that monitor is probably still going to be attached to a desktop.
4) Much of the internet is run on desktop machines (or racks of them). The Internet isn't running on someone's macbook

Desktops are going to be around for awhile still. They are still the work horses of the world and without them many of the mobile devices of today wouldn't be where they are.

Until there are mobiles with the horse power of a desktop running on a wireless internet of the world then I will say the PC is dead.

Re: What Does Windows 8 really mean ?

Posted 04 July 2012 - 11:07 AM

There will still be a more devolpment oriented side to this; perhaps just *nix based OSs but I think windows and even apple will still allow for devolpment just as much. Less technically friendly interfaces, like those that Metro may push forth, probably wont work for advanced devolpment tools and simply wont be used.

Re: What Does Windows 8 really mean ?

I am not sure if you are serious or just using this as a chance to preach your views but I will bite.

First of all, they have been saying the desktop PC is dead for a long time. Guess what, many of us still have them. Some of the reasons why I still keep a desktop PC around...

1) My work provides them
2) Desktops are still much more powerful than any mobiles. Even a laptop can't reach the kind of power I can get out of a nice desktop.
3) People like big screens so unless your mobile is going to include a 22 inch or you are going to keep a screen on a desk and have your mobile wirelessly hook into it, that monitor is probably still going to be attached to a desktop.
4) Much of the internet is run on desktop machines (or racks of them). The Internet isn't running on someone's macbook

Desktops are going to be around for awhile still. They are still the work horses of the world and without them many of the mobile devices of today wouldn't be where they are.

Until there are mobiles with the horse power of a desktop running on a wireless internet of the world then I will say the PC is dead.

There will still be PC's but they wont be in boxes that you can easily upgrade
like you can now or repair or do a hobbyist type electronic project through a usb or RS232 port.

They will change to basically be a large 30 inch screen inside that screen there will still be a motherboard and a hard
drive but it wont be the same they will not be PC's anymore they will be something else.

My current Laptop is more powerful than my old XP Pro Desktop that is just fact and there is no getting away from it.

Yes people like big screens there will be bigger screens not smaller screens, the mobile side of things well they have their uses but for serious use people will still want a large screen.

The internet is not run on desktop PC's they are run on Servers from large air conditioned warehouses with infallible electricty and UPS supplies. I have worked in them doing the calculations for data cabling and electrical supply cabling.

I am saying there is a change coming on Windows 8 your app will be expected to run on all devices this means a change in the way you design your application and that is all.

Will it eventually drive the PC in its current form into something else ? Yes I honestly think it will and we will call it a computer or a screen or God knows what but I don't think we will call it a PC.

My current Laptop is more powerful than my old XP Pro Desktop that is just fact and there is no getting away from it.

Shocking - your old tech is slower than your new tech. My 2004 Trailblazer is less efficient/cool/ding free than a new 2012 model.

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I am saying there is a change coming on Windows 8 your app will be expected to run on all devices this means a change in the way you design your application and that is all.

This is true to a degree - but not really. your app will be expected to run on the platforms you dictate. We haven't overhauled our apps for the iPad because the iPad is a device for consumption. The main large scale apps are still pc based because they are expected to run on them.

Re: What Does Windows 8 really mean ?

Posted 04 July 2012 - 11:50 AM

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Well you can threaten and bully all you like,

It wasn't a threat or a bully attempt - it was me trying to have you create a discussion and not act like some crazy man on the corner standing on a milk crate. A volume of text doesn't make an argument - it just makes you that guy everyone ignores because it's not worth the time to unravel or make a guess on what this person is doing.

Re: What Does Windows 8 really mean ?

Posted 04 July 2012 - 11:59 AM

modi123_1, on 04 July 2012 - 06:50 PM, said:

It wasn't a threat or a bully attempt - it was me trying to have you create a discussion and not act like some crazy man on the corner standing on a milk crate. A volume of text doesn't make an argument - it just makes you that guy everyone ignores because it's not worth the time to unravel or make a guess on what this person is doing.

Well sorry,

But I'm not standing ranting on a Milk crate,

I honestly think computing is under going a vital change with Windows 8.

I am not the only one some think Windows 8 will fail and fail badly

Others think the opposite from a wired article

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Interestingly, Microsoft's Windows 8 approach is the direct opposite of what Apple is doing with its Mountain Lion OS X. Apple has vast legions of mobile users, and wants to ease them into the Mac experience. Microsoft has untold millions of desktop users, and wants to ease them into the mobile experience.

The next few years of computing innovation are going to be very interesting to watch unfold. But one thing's for sure: Microsoft is at least one step ahead of Apple in putting the desktop interface to rest.

Re: What Does Windows 8 really mean ?

Posted 04 July 2012 - 12:13 PM

modi123_1, on 04 July 2012 - 06:41 PM, said:

This is true to a degree - but not really. your app will be expected to run on the platforms you dictate. We haven't overhauled our apps for the iPad because the iPad is a device for consumption. The main large scale apps are still pc based because they are expected to run on them.

No it really wont, what Microsoft want is a single OS on all devices running your app which can only be downloaded onto Windows 8 via the Microsoft Store eventually all software is going to come from the Windows Store or the Apple Store.

That way Microsoft or Apple get complete control of what software is allowed to run on their OS.

The end user gets a better experience and Microsoft and Apple get an OS that is completely stable and virus/malware free.

Re: What Does Windows 8 really mean ?

Posted 04 July 2012 - 12:20 PM

ishkabible, on 04 July 2012 - 06:07 PM, said:

There will still be a more devolpment oriented side to this; perhaps just *nix based OSs but I think windows and even apple will still allow for devolpment just as much. Less technically friendly interfaces, like those that Metro may push forth, probably wont work for advanced devolpment tools and simply wont be used.

Yes it will be interesting to see how advanced development tools are supposed to work in this new OS,

Some think the OS will not work and won't be used.

However, both Apple and Microsoft are very large organisations and this new 'store' concept that of course started with Apple is very appealing both to the end user and of course the OS manufacturer.

Where it leaves the hobbyist programmer or small independent developer is another question entirely.